


Let Me Feel the Air Again

by caughtitonland



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode Related, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-22
Updated: 2011-11-22
Packaged: 2017-10-26 12:14:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/283003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caughtitonland/pseuds/caughtitonland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>All he can smell is iron, earth, putrefaction. He wants to find Steve and get them the hell home. Back to the quiet little bungalow where he will <i>gladly</i> keep the TV off forever if it means having him safe and sound asleep upstairs like he should be.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Me Feel the Air Again

  
  
_”I'll think about you the whole time.”_   


Danny's certain he hasn't felt his heart beat since he got the call from Jenna. This must be what auto-pilot is like, because even when Grace got that terrible stomach flu that put her in the ER for two nights, Danny still can't remember feeling the way he does now. Jenna sounded _terrified_ and traitor or not, her sobs, her panicked, jumbled words, and her panting breaths were all _real_.

He does his best to remain on an even keel for the rest of them; if he panics, they all will, and that's the last thing Steve needs when he's stuck in a place no one—not even a Navy SEAL—has any business being stuck in.

He closes his eyes as the chopper takes off, his gut doing that lurching drop as though he's about to go down the first plummet of a roller coaster. Wo Fat doesn't do loose ends, doesn't leave talking mouths in his wake; just a pile of corpses. Danny thinks about Steve, laying lifeless somewhere and has to swallow down the bile that threatens to bubble up in his throat. He can't. He can't think like this or Steve is as good as dead.

Danny remembers the man's smile and finds peace there.

_______________________

Jenna looks different. He can't place what it is, but she doesn't look like herself any longer. This is what happened to someone who _went along_ with whatever plan Wo Fat is following. His heart drops to his feet and he feels like sobbing, because if this is how _she_ ended up, he can't imagine what the man has done to Steve. Danny swallows down the bile again, his torso swaying forward a bit at the intensity of the burning he feels behind his rib cage. All he can smell is iron, earth, putrefaction. He wants to find Steve and get them the hell home. Back to the quiet little bungalow where he will _gladly_ keep the TV off forever if it means having him safe and sound asleep upstairs like he should be. It feels like someone's wrenching a knife in his gut and it's all he can do to keep breathing. The call comes over their comms and the world stops for a moment as they listen to the intel. Then it's a rush of movement, every man but Danny seeming to know what to do. His hands shake almost imperceptibly on his AK, every lethal outcome pouring through his thoughts at blinding speed. He barely feels the weight of the truck as they overturn it, but he feels the heat of the flame as he lights the underside of the Jeep; he wonders if Steve's felt the same heat lick his skin. Danny clenches his eyes shut.

_______________________

From the corner of his eye, he catches Wo Fat scampering off into the jungle. Someone should go after him, catch him now that he has no one to back him any longer. It won't be him, though. There's someone he has to find, someone he has to bring home. The trucks are all empty of human life, their previous occupants in heaps on the ground, blood pooling beneath them like silk unravelling. Steve might not even be here. It's not until the last truck—the one with the dingy tarp over it—that Danny finds the man he's been searching for for almost 24 hours. Steve's alive, in one piece, and apparently shocked that he, of all people, would be the one pulling the tarp away. It's a priceless expression that would be humorous if it weren't for the circumstances. It shouldn't surprise him that Steve is asking about the perp when he's still bound hand and foot. Still, Danny can't help but berate him and whether he does it out of habit or sheer relief, he can't tell. The exchange calms him some, but his heart is still beating too fast for its own good.

In the chopper, the reality of what he's just done, of what might have happened, but didn't, sets in and he lets out a shaky breath. He's beyond grateful for Chin's impromptu wedding announcement because no one notices when he wipes his eyes.

_______________________

The flight home is longer than he remembers it being on the way in, but now that adrenaline's not in the picture and time has gone back to normal, Danny's certain the next few days will go by slow as molasses; at least that's what he hopes.

They get home just as the sun is setting, and all the tension he's been carrying in his neck and shoulders finally amalgamates in dull headache at the juncture of skull and spine. Still, he has a more pressing matter to attend to, and it happens to be leaning against the kitchen counter, waiting for him to pull out the six pack of Longboards. Steve's being his usual stubborn self and refusing medication, despite the fracture rib, and countless bruises and contusions marring his body. Danny got more than a good look at them at the base hospital; the image won't leave his thoughts for some time. Neither one says a word as Danny helps Steve up the stairs and straight to the bathroom. The beers are momentarily set aside as Danny carefully undresses his partner, mindful of all the injuries. Steve merely watches him with that half-lidded, hazy expression, a hint of a smile tugging on his lips. Reality bites hard again and Danny's left momentarily struck as he realizes the burn marks on Steve's abdomen aren't from cigarettes but from a taser; he knows Wo Fat isn't nice enough to use low voltage and before his mind can find the word, Steve fills it in for him.

“Cattle prod.”

Danny's breath hitches in his throat, but he doesn't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing tears. Merely tips his head and kisses over the spot gently, knowing Steve will understand.

The water looks icy blue despite the heat that radiates through their limbs, the Epsom salt Danny put in for Steve's benefit changing it to the soothing color. Danny had started out sitting on the edge of the tub, doing his best Florence Nightingale impression as he washed Steve from head to toe, but when he got 'the face', he near-instantly shed his own clothes and climbed in behind his partner, realizing that while Steve didn't want to be babied, he _did_ want the comfort of familiarity, and that meant both of them in the water, soaking up the heat and letting the day's events slip away. It just so happens that this day's events were a little more memorable than the rest.

Steve leans his head back against Danny's shoulder, eyes closed, face slack.

“Thank you,” he whispers, turning his head only slightly to kiss Danny's neck. It's all Danny can do not to hold the man tighter.

“Never again. You hear me? Never again do something so stupid without us there to have your back.”

“You did have my back.”

“No. No, we got there just in time, there's a difference.”

“Either way—” Danny cuts him off by kissing him, one wet hand cupping the uncut side of Steve's face as tenderly as possible.

“Never. Again. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir,”

And if they both finally smile, it's not soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> [SOUNDTRACK | _Sweetest Memory_ \- Eighteen Visions](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOQqOEjIJgQ)


End file.
